Risks for Illness Among Preemies in Later Life

Individuals who are born pre-term, which means less than 37 weeks of gestation, are at higher risk of being ill in the later stage of their life, according to a new research.

Premature births occur in between eight (8) to ten (10) per cent of all birth registries recorded in United States. At birth, these pre-term infants are already at risk for developing certain abnormalities and cognitive delays because of the undeveloped organs as a result of earlier births. Furthermore, according to a new study, these individuals who are born before the 37th week of pregnancy are of greater risk in having ill health soon when they grow.

The research which is from the Imperial London College is released in the journal Pediatric Research. The researchers claim that their study is a call for a thorough monitoring of pre-term babies which can even extend to adulthood in order to prevent the development of certain diseases which may be an after effect of being born ahead of time. Early detection and prompt intervention is forwarded by the researchers in their study.

The study population involves individuals who are in early adulthood and adult. There are about forty-eight (48) volunteers who served as the respondents of the study. The age group of these volunteers ranged from 18 to 27 years old.

The findings of the study reveal that those individuals who were born at 33 weeks of pregnancy and even less were having hypertension, and has more than enough fat deposits which are more dominant in the liver. According to the researchers, these observations can be linked to a heightened risk of developing cardiac and circulatory problems and even metabolic problems in the future.

Although apparently, the cases of pre-term births are increasing in numbers, many of them survive. The high survivability rates of premature infants are due because of the medical advances that are present today. The cause of having a pre-term birth is unknown, but there are a lot of factors which can be attributed to this phenomenon such as the environment of the mother while she is having the pregnancy, it could be both external and internal environment.

The lead author of the study, Professor Neena Modi, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, concluded by saying: “The results suggest that we need to monitor the health of premature babies beyond infancy and childhood. Preterm men and women might be at greater risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases but if we look out for the warning signs, we can help them to stay healthy with lifestyle interventions, and treatment where appropriate.”